Despoiling of England: Gladman in Mail

Mail Online today looks at David Gladman and his despoiling of England in great detail.

As well as the introduction below, the article goes on to examine three examples of the threat he poses to villages associated with Laurie Lee, John Betjaman and Downton Abbey. The article starts:

Multi-millionaire land developer David Gladman lives in rural tranquility

Along a private road backing on to fields, multi-millionaire land development boss David Gladman lives in tranquillity in a wealthy area of Cheshire. His sumptuous farmhouse has a large garden, a tennis court nearby, and is the sort of place that reeks of prosperity.

It is the kind of area that 59-year-old Mr Gladman would ordinarily view as perfect for a development of new homes. As he said himself in an interview: 'For too long, preserving the view of a rich man over the fields behind his house has prevented a nurse from owning a decent place to live.'

The self-made businessman has gained notoriety because of his spectacular success at getting planning permission for housing on greenfield sites adjacent to towns or villages. When the site is sold on to a builder, he splits the profit with the landowner.

His company's website states it is targeting plots of greenfield land between seven and 50 acres on the edge of 'settlements' across the UK.

The same site boasts that Gladman Developments, with a £200 million turnover, is a 'formidable, skilled and highly professional land promoter, obsessed with winning (planning) consents'.
Its current projects include a site for 107 homes within view of the summit of the Peak District's hauntingly beautiful Kinder Scout plateau.

There are plans for 1,500 homes near historic Stratford-upon-Avon, and 270 homes on David Cameron's doorstep in his constituency of Witney in Oxfordshire.

Under Government reforms, councils must show they have enough land to meet housing targets for the next five years. If they do not, they lose key powers to ward off predatory planning applications. This has resulted in a flood of requests to build on greenfield sites.

A damning report by MPs, published yesterday, found that developers are exploiting planning reforms to inflict 'inappropriate and unwanted' housing on communities. Gladman Developments normally offers to cover all the costs of obtaining planning permission -- including the fees for lawyers and experts in the event of any appeal -- which can exceed £300,000.

Naturally, if an area of land gains planning permission for new houses, its value rockets. Some estimates suggest it can multiply by as much as 100 times in more desirable areas. If the attempt to win permission is unsuccessful, the farmer or landowner does not have to pay anything.

The firm recently took out adverts in the farming press in a search for sites on the edges of towns or villages. Its adverts boast: 'We aim to never lose and have won 90 per cent of our housing planning applications.

'You pay nothing, win or lose. We only get our percentage after you have sold your land to the highest-bidding house-builder.'

In rare cases, the firm buys the land outright from the owner, wins planning permission, and then shares profits with the previous owner when the site is sold on to a house-builder.

Depressingly, the company does indeed have an astonishing success rate, having secured planning permission for rural sites in 41 out of its last 43 cases, despite substantial local opposition. It is currently pursuing 102 planning applications for housing developments all over England, most of them on greenfield land.

Critics say the cynical no-win, no-fee strategy of this outfit -- and others like it -- is encouraged by the Government's newly relaxed planning laws designed get more houses built quickly.

At a Parliamentary committee last summer examining the government's National Planning Policy Framework to provide 200,000 new homes a year, David Gladman said: 'We have always been planners ... there is probably nobody (in the country) who is more involved, by number anyway, in housing applications and housing appeals ...'

For him this is evidently a source of pride, but opponents say his company and others of the same ilk are ruining Britain's villages and market towns.

Two respected rural institutions -- the National Trust and Country Life magazine -- warn that Britain's most picturesque areas are being desecrated.

The vocal Mr Gladman says his company is only focused on 'sensible, sustainable locations'. 'We are proud to help deliver homes and associated prosperity to these towns and villages. Everyone needs reminding that we live in a home that was built on what was once a green field.'

He has little time for those 'not in my backyard' (Nimby) protestors who oppose his planning applications. He calls them a 'self-interested vociferous minority who for the past 15 years have played a significant role in depriving a generation of the ability to own a home they can afford'.

So what do they have to say to that? Here, the Mail examines three cases where his firm has gone to war on some of the most cherished rural communities in Britain.

AudlemOnline adds: There is much more on David Gladman on the Mail Online with many photos.

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